Canadas record manufacturing sales not just hot but scorching says economist

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales rose 2.5% to $53.7 billion in July, exceeding the previous record of $53.2 billion set in July 2008.The agency says the July gain was mainly due to higher sales in the transportation equipment and primary metals industries.Economists had expected a gain of 1%, according to Thomson Reuters.“July was a hot month for Canadian manufactured goods exports, so the only surprise was that shipments were not just hot, but scorching. The 2.5% gain in dollar values was eclipsed by a 2.8% rise in real volumes, as prices eased a bit, leaving a big contribution in store for July GDP and some potential upward revisions to Q3 forecasts, where we were already looking for a more than 3% pace,” said Avery Shenfeld of CIBC World Markets Economics, Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales have been trending upwards since January. July sales were up 16 of 21 industries in, representing about 56% of the country’s manufacturing.Transportation equipment sales rose 10.3% to $10.1 billion in July, while primary metal sales rose 4.0% to $4.2 billion.In July, five industries reported lower sales, with food manufacturing reporting the largest decrease, down 1.4% to $7.9 billion.